Goodness, foodie, I never thought of Chinese and Cajun cooking as suspicious! But maybe you're talking about their shared attitude towards food in general: if it moves, you can eat it.

When the Pilgrims came to North America, they found mountains upon mountains of oyster shells. The native Americans sure loved their quivering bivalves. With that in mind, turkey in a thousand ways can't be that daring!

Seems to me, we can forego the turkey and just prepare different stuffings for Thanksgiving; that is where the creativity lies and, obviously, that is what determines the wine pairing.

As for those quivering wonders of the waters: over any preparation of turkey I would rather have a few dozen of them on the half-shell, with a little lemon, a steely dry white and perhaps a French lady at my side (oops).

Randy you do have a way with words, You can make the most mundane things sound more interesting than they normally would. But then from what I have seen, you have a 'way' about you with most everything you do. [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb/wink.gif[/img]
Nancy (prez)

Hey Randy, do you have a recipe for the Chinese-style bird? I just might try that this year, as a tribute to my immigrant parents.

As far as those "quivering bivalves" (gosh, that sounds pornographic) are concerned, I have a really dumb question: how exactly do you eat those things? Do you chew or not? I've only had the cooked version, but am willing to try them on the half-shell.

Well Anna, I lived in Florida a few years in the late '80s and spent my share of time in a little place called Bunky's Raw Bar...anyone else heard of them??? Sold T-shirts that said GET SHUCKED on the back of them, and the all male waitstaff used to dance on the bar a couple of times a night if you called the local radio station and requested a song for them. (hey, I was young.... [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb/smile.gif[/img] )

Well anyway...these little critters are not at all my favorite thing to eat.... but what I remember about them is that they slip down really easily...slick little things that they are. No chewing, or little anyway, was required...which suited me just fine!! But, if you have never tried them Anna.....it is a must do thing!! Perhaps I will try them again myself....maybe I would like them now??

Re oysters...you chew, of course...by swallowing whole you miss the flavor. The wine of choice is crisp Sancerre (or other bone dry Sauvignon Blanc) and the very best sauce (I think) is a rice vinegar mignonette (sp?) with shallots.

A dozen 000 (triple-ought) Belons, please. (It is always the first thing I eat when I visit Paris, at a little coquillage on Rue Georges V.) Then I have a kind of pyramid of fresh shellfish, including mussels, conch, perriwinkles, lobster, clams and whatever else is in the kitchen.